‘Simpsons’ Denied Animation Emmy Nom For The First Time Ever

The nominations for the 66th annual Primetime Emmy Awards were announced this morning, and the big animation news isn’t who was nominated, but who wasn’t: The Simpsons. The yellow-skinned family was denied a nomination in the Outstanding Animated Program for the first time in its history. (While the show wasn’t nominated in the animation category in 1993-’94, that was only because the producers of the show submitted to the comedy category instead, so they have never been denied an animated series nomination when they’ve submitted.)

Bound to happen sooner or later. It’s not exactly a secret that Simpsons quality has jumped off a cliff the past years.

Geoff

And yet it’s still a thousand times better than Bobs Burgers

SarahJesness

No it’s not.

Confused Now

Almost everyone is in agreement Simpsons Cliffdived about 16 years ago. Its downright fukin embaressing a show once so good could suck for that long and still be on the air winning emmys

Toonio

When you see nominees like Game of Thrones for special FXs all you have to do is laugh. They show like a min on 2 of animation per episode, sans rare exceptions (plus dragging the plot till next week) and they get a nomination.

These awards only feed the fads and fans to milk the $$$ till the last cent.

Robert Calcagno

Certainly you’ve seen the VFX reel going around of the most recent season right? Game of Thrones uses some type of visual effect in just about every shot. The studio does such a seamless job that at times you’d hardly even know if it was there. VFX isn’t just animation, it’s compositing, matte painting, lighting, and much more.

Toonio

Oh that’s right. I forgot the sticker star generation always demands an accolade for even the most trivial things. My bad.

Eddie Offermann

Quiet now, the adults are talking.

Claire Hummel

Couldn’t have said it better myself. :) Non-flashy VFX are rarely appreciated, so I love reels that show all of the subtler work that goes into making a show like GoT.

Barrett

Reminds me of how much VFX went into shows like Deadwood and Breaking Bad. Not every show with VFX uses it in a big showy way.

Finally! Its been many years since the Simpsons has done anything halfway good. In fact they really should not have been nominated at all in the same year That 90s Show episode came out.

Josh

That 90s Show is probably one of my favorite Simpsons episode of all time, i don’t understand the hate.

Passerby

It completely ignored all their continuity from previous episodes. And I don’t want to hear “that it never followed continuity” or that its “a sliding timeline”. The Simpsons may not have a lot of continuity like a serial or something, but it does have some continuity and it would’ve been nice if they followed it despite how little it is.

Besides they did a much better job commenting and criticizing on the 90s during the actual 90s. I guess judging it on its own thing without looking at past episodes, it may not have been that bad, but for long time viewers it was a bit annoying. Maybe its not the worst, but that’s some of the reasons why it doesn’t rub off too well on a lot of us.

Barrett

The Simpsons has always played fast and loose with the timeline, and I get why they do that. At this point though, they have kind of established Homer and Marge as late-stage Baby Boomers. An episode that shows them as teens in the early 90s (when in “reality” they were already parents of a 10 year old) just disrupts the fantasy too much. The Simpsons has done an alright job in introducing things like tablets and cell phones into the reality without forcing us to consider that Homer and Marge would be in their 60s by now, and the kids all grown up (the date on Lisa’s wedding invitation in that first flash-forward episode was 2010!) They should just stick with the original history and casually ignore the realities of how old they ought to be by now.

James

This is only the FIRST year The simpsons wasn’t nominated?

BurntToShreds

This snub has been a long time coming. The show is a shambling corpse of its former self.

lovenorthern

I’m sorry, Robot Chicken got a nom but not Superjail? Where is the justice in that?! The animation in Superjail is AMAZING. It’s the most involved and interesting animation on TV today. Where the heck is it’s nomination?

blandyblottschalk

Could not agree more. Superjail is the best animated show on TV today.

Strong Enough

family guy>>

Will

I realize this article is about the Simpsons snub, but I’m kind of shocked Rick and Morty wasn’t nominated. It had an amazing first season, and I have watched each episode multiple times. Such a shame.

Mortimer

Hear hear. The episode they submitted had some amazing writing. Thinking about the ending gives me chills

http://sobieniak.blogspot.com/ Chris Sobieniak

That certainly would be a great day!

http://sobieniak.blogspot.com/ Chris Sobieniak

That certainly would be a great day!

LarryBundyJr

The Simpsons is horrifically mundane and unfunny now. I’ve been to more hilarious funerals.

Marbles471

Superjail has never been covered on this site? THIS site?! Okay, if that’s true, that is a MAJOR fail.

I agree—-even if you don’t care for the subject matter (I struggle with it myself because I just can’t find jokes about murder and gruesome death funny), the animation is indeed the most lively and imaginative on television. It’s incredible that it’s done in America and on such a low budget to boot. For that, and for its sheer visual imagination, it deserves much more attention. Especially from a site like this.

lovenorthern

Thanks for the support! :) I grew up watching Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and Invader Zim, both very “gross” and disturbingly gory kids shows. Cartoon gore doesn’t bother me in the slightest because it’s so unrealistic. It’s simply a progression of the cartoon violence that’s so rampant in early cartoons.

The jokes aren’t about murder and death, the gag is found in the clever, Rube Goldberg-esque set ups. They’re truly fascinatingly imaginative. There’s also a lot of humor in the stark contrasts Superjail presents and many of the jokes are very unlike most Adult Swim shows in that they are thoughtful and moral.

No show is for everyone, but I think this show would have a much broader audience if it weren’t hidden at 11:45 on Sunday nights with barely any advertising. Amid, please talk about this show!

Marbles471

I too find it surprising that this is the FIRST time (discounting the 1993 aberration) that this has happened.

For what it’s worth, even though The Simpsons is a pale, limp shadow of what it once was, I personally have found it much more enjoyable ever since the 2007 season, or immediately post-movie. Why? I’ll tell you. Because Jerkass Homer appears to finally be dead and buried at last.
During the prior ten years or so, Homer had been fast-tracked from a oafish but generally well-meaning bumbler into a horrible, borderline-sociopathic manchild. It was so toxic to me, and hard to watch a character that had once been so likeable —despite his mountains of flaws—-become something so ugly.
But amazingly, the moral lesson he was shown to learn in the movie actually appears to have stuck, from what I’ve seen. He’s actually become lovable again. Sure, he has his low moments, but he did before, too. It’s been more than welcome and has made the show’s weaknesses much easier to take.

Never underestimate the importance of likability, I say. It’s something that frankly many TV shows would do well to learn.

Now if only The Simpsons could take what they did with Homer and apply it to Lisa, also…..

Barrett

Superjail! is something that appeals to a small segment of the general TV audience, and would mostly likely be either unappealing or viscerally disturbing to most of the remaining audience. It’s a totally wacked-out, hyper-violent celebration of lunacy and degeneracy. I totally get why it’s popular in some circles, but the people choosing Emmy noms probably think Adventure Time is “trippy.” If any of them even know about Super Jail, it’s probably mind-blowingly disturbing and not at all entertaining to them. I’m just glad something so wild still has a place in Adult Swim, although they certainly could stand to air it more often!

Barrett

Good. While The Simpsons isn’t as atrociously written as it was in the early ’00s, the show is still a shell of its former self, and is actually starting to decline again after a few years of moderate improvement. This season has been a big disappointment to me, and I know I’m not alone. Giving The Simpsons or Family Guy Emmy nominations “just because” is idiotic. Oh well, at least some good shows got nominated too.

Der Langhaarige

Fox executive: “Sorry Mr Groening, The Simpsons still has good ratings and we make a lot of money with it, but…y’know…the lack of Emmy nominations really made us wonder if it’s worth to keep the show on air.”

Sounds realistic to me.

Doz Hewson

Not to offend, but “KOTH” was NOT a product of the early 1990s.

Vic

…I still like The Simpsons which I’m most likely in the minority for. However, I will acknowledge that its quality went way down a while ago. Went from great to good to mediocre. Earlier seasons are still my favorite but I can accept up to season 14